The weekend of Nov. 11-13, 2016, Big Sandy High School students Dakota Terry and Grace Finke traveled to Missoula to attend the University of Montana’s High School All-Star Ensembles. They were two out of 212 students from a five state area: WA, OR, ID, WY, and Montana. These students were all nominated and chosen on their merit in band. Four ensembles practiced and performed the entire weekend from 8:45 am to 8:45 pm. On Saturday night they were guests of the UM’s own concert band and orchestra concerts. Sunday morning, they did their first rehearsal and then performed their pieces in a packed Dennison Theatre. While they were not in the full band all day, each section had to go to their individual section leadership and practice sessions; the clarinets which both Dakota and Grace play were led by Dr. Chris Kirkpatrick from UM.
Our Pioneers were blessed to have UM alumni, Parker Bixby as their conductor for their Silver Ensemble music. Seventy nine students performed: Man of the Hour ~Henry Fillmore/ed. Foster, “Simple Song” from Mass ~ Leonard Bernstein/arr. Sweeny. In this arrangement, Dean Stephen Kalm, a vocal baritone, sang while being accompanied by a piano and the concert band. “Autobahn” ~ composed by Ryan George was about cars being on the fast and furious German roadway. One could just imagine being in a fast moving automobile. “Serenade” ~ composed by Dereck Bourgeois, and last but not least, they performed “ROCK MUSIC” written by Alex Shapiro. Ms. Shapiro is from Northwest Washington State and was present the entire weekend. She was thrilled to hear her music played for the first time in a concert theatre. The band was accompanied by a digital recording as a video played on a large screen behind the band. The students also used rocks for rhythm while playing their instruments. Ms. Shapiro had four songs that were played by all four groups and were quite entertaining. If you are interested in listening/watching her music/videos, you can find them at http://www.alexshapiro.org.
All in all, Dakota and Grace had a very enjoyable experience, met a lot of people, and learned a lot about music.
